


The End of A Voyage

by JeromeClarke107



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Kickpuncher, M/M, Pining Troy, Post-Episode: s05e05 Geothermal Escapism, Reunion Fic, Troy Barnes is in love with Abed Nadir, Troy and Abed deserve a happy ending, Two years have passed but it doesn't follow canon after S5 E5, maybe kinda angsty, mentions of sexual acts but nothing graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:34:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25571437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JeromeClarke107/pseuds/JeromeClarke107
Summary: Troy abandons his journey around the world because he can't stand being without Abed, and he comes back with some new realizations about himself and his relationship with his best friend.
Relationships: Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir
Comments: 3
Kudos: 88





	The End of A Voyage

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Angst and Fluff Prompt List by hellsdemonictrinity on tumblr.  
> Prompt: I'm not going anywhere.
> 
> Ugh....The writer feels like she should provide an apology at the beginning of this fic because she has had writer's block for weeks now and she's still not really pleased with it. But it got her out of the void with trobed fluff, so she's going to go with it. :)
> 
> Thanks for Reading!  
> You can find me on Tumblr under the same username: JeromeClarke107

Troy Barnes spends at least fifteen minutes standing outside apartment 3624 before he summons up the courage to knock on the door. He hasn’t been here in so long; it’s been two long years since he last saw his best friend. And a lot has changed since then; being without someone for approximately 730 days can tell you a lot about how much you need them. And how you feel about them.

He waits for an answer in quiet anticipation, desperate to see Abed’s smile again, to hold him close and never let him go. He’s looking forward to seeing Annie, too. But for completely different reasons; he hasn’t had any life-altering revelations about her.

On the other hand, Abed and him have quite a bit to talk about.

It’s Annie who opens the door, and her arms are thrown around his neck before he can even say hello.

“Troy! You’re home! And you’re a millionaire!”

He smiles at her, “Not exactly. I...um...I didn’t finish the trip.”

She pulls back and looks at him, astonished.

“You’ve been gone for two years,” she smacks his arm, half-playful and half-serious,”What do you mean you didn’t finish!?”

He shakes his head. He’d been making very little progress, and he couldn’t take being away from his home and his friends any longer. Especially Abed, who’s stayed at the forefront of his mind since the day he left.

“It’s a long story; I’ll tell you later.”

She looks annoyed, but too excited that he’s back to pitch a fit about it.

“Is Abed home?” He hopes the anticipation in his voice doesn’t shine through too much. He’s imagined this moment for months, has yearned to hold Abed in his arms again, to kiss him for the first time.

He hadn’t even realized until he left how badly he wanted to kiss Abed. Now it feels like he’ll die if he doesn’t do it soon, and he hasn’t stopped to think about what it would be like if Abed rejected him. It would be far too painful to live through twice, even if the first time was imaginary.

“Yeah, he’s in his room.”

Troy looks down at his watch to check the time and is surprised to find that it’s only eight in the morning. Abed’s always up by six, if not earlier.

Annie seems timid as she starts to explain, biting down on her lip like she does when she’s nervous or when Jeff’s around.

“ He’s been kind of...off. Since you left. He spends a lot of time in bed lately.”

Troy’s heart drops. He knew that Abed would struggle when he left to travel the world, and if it hadn’t knocked him out of the money, he would’ve gladly taken his friend with him. He would’ve probably finished if he’d been with Abed, if he’d had his support.

Now, still not a millionaire, all his stupid trip caused him was two years of his life that he could’ve been spending with his friends, with the man he loves.

Annie lets him by her and into the apartment, then follows him at a respectable distance. It hasn’t changed much since he left save a few pictures that Annie hung up on the wall and some additional movies that have been added to the bookshelf as Abed expands his collection.

Annie reluctantly goes back to her room as Troy approaches the blanket fort that he’d helped build. He slides the sheet back and steps through the makeshift doorway, sits his travel bag down on Abed’s dresser with the intention of reclaiming his drawers once they’ve been reunited.

His friend is sleeping peacefully on the top of the bunk bed, facing the wall like he wants to hide from the rest of the world. Troy’s used to that, to Abed closing himself off from things that make him uncomfortable. Apparently, after Troy’s departure, Abed isn’t even at peace in his own apartment anymore.

He climbs the ladder to the top bunk and watches Abed sleep for a few more moments, watches his chest move up and down as he breathes steadily. He wonders if Abed is only like this when he sleeps now, quiet and relaxed.

He puts a hand on his shoulder gently, barely shakes it in an attempt to wake him without scaring him. Abed groans and pulls the covers farther up, curls up beneath them like a child being told he has to get ready for school.

“Abed,” he whispers, smiling to himself. He can barely feel the skin of Abed’s shoulder and it’s warm, refreshing to touch him again.

He groans again when the back of Troy’s hand brushes over his cheek, and his eyes flutter open to slits for a moment before they flutter closed again.

“Annie…” he mumbles, slurring like he’s hungover, “...told you not to…” he yawns, “wake me up early after...Batman night.”

His skin is as soft as Troy remembers it being and he still smells the same, like that strawberry body wash from the Walmart down the street that is apparently the only acceptable soap in existence. After a year of living with him, Troy had gotten used to smelling it on himself, too. Now he just smells like seawater.

And he would’ve known why Abed’s sleeping late if he’d bothered to look at the calendar; Cartoon Network runs marathons of _Batman: The Animated Series _on Thursday nights.__

__Troy rubs his back for a few minutes before trying to wake him again, this time shaking him slightly harder and raising his voice when he speaks._ _

__“Is coming back from a two-year-long voyage at sea not worth waking up for these days?”_ _

__Abed stretches and rolls over, “Am I dreaming?”_ _

__Troy shakes his head and pushes down the urge to kiss him then. He’s missed Abed’s voice so much; for over a year, it had been the first thing he’d heard every morning. Abed usually woke up at least ten minutes before the alarm went off. Except for after Batman night, of course._ _

__He puts his hand on Abed’s chest, over his heart. He can feel it beating through his thin t-shirt and it’s a good reminder that Abed’s alive and beside him, that having to live without him is over._ _

__“No, it’s really me. I came home early.”_ _

__Abed sits up in the bed, his eyes still tired, but as alert as he can be after long marathons._ _

__“Why? Did you get the-”_ _

__Troy cuts him off, “Nope. Guess I just missed you too much.”_ _

__The corner of Abed’s mouth quirks up into a shy smile, and Troy can’t take not touching him anymore. He pulls his friend into a tight hug, wraps his arms around him and clings like he’s never going to see him again. He’d regretted how short that last hug had been for months after he set off on his voyage; he’d wanted so badly to go back to that day and hold Abed as tight as he could, to tell him that he loved him and that he was coming home because there wasn’t any amount of money in the world that would make up for losing him._ _

__“I missed you so much, Abed.”_ _

__Abed squeezes him in response, then buries his nose in Troy’s neck._ _

__“You smell gross.”_ _

__Troy laughs, pushes down the urge to kiss his cheek._ _

__“You smell like strawberries.”_ _

__“I always smell like strawberries. You don’t usually smell gross.”_ _

__Troy pulls away and smiles at him, happy to see that Abed returns it with enthusiasm. It’s the same look he wears when they watch _The Dark Knight _together, like no matter how many times he sees Troy, he’ll never stop being perfect in Abed’s eyes.___ _

____“I’ll go take a shower, kay? Then we can find something to watch... _Kickpuncher _, maybe?”___ _ _ _

______Abed nods and climbs out of bed, starts scrambling around his room for his quintessential sweatpants and hoodie that he typically wears on a day at home with Troy.  
After telling Annie that he needs her to leave the apartment for a while (then finally convincing her to actually do it by telling her that he needs to talk to Abed in private, about something important), he makes his way into the bathroom and stands under the familiar stream of water in the shower. It’s warm on his skin, nothing like the ice cold water that had been available for occasional baths on the ship, and he spends quite a bit of time rehearsing his speech to Abed before turning it off and stepping back out into the bathroom with a towel around his waist. He presses his arm up close to his nose and inhales deeply._ _ _ _ _ _

______He smells like strawberries again._ _ _ _ _ _

______. . ._ _ _ _ _ _

______When Troy goes back into the living room, Abed’s already settled in his chair with a blanket covering his legs and a bowl of popcorn in his lap._ _ _ _ _ _

______“I got all of the _Kickpuncher _movies off the bookshelf; there are a lot of them, so it should keep us occupied for the majority of the day.”___ _ _ _ _ _

________Troy smiles and sits on the arm of Abed’s chair instead of in his own. He takes the remote out of his hand before he can start the movie, sits it to the side, and turns to look at Abed with the kind of intensity that he wouldn’t be able to pull off with anyone else._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Is something wrong?” Abed sounds slightly panicked, but like he’s desperately trying to keep from showing it, “Are you leaving again?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Troy shakes his head, more certain about this than he’s ever been about anything, “I’m not going anywhere.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Abed seems to ease slightly, but still looks up at Troy from his seat. It’s like he wants things to go back to normal, and it’s clear that he doesn’t know that Troy doesn’t. Troy wants things to be different, to be better. He wants the best friendship in the world (like what they had before) but with kissing and sex and stuff._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________He’s already spent an uncomfortable amount of time on that boat daydreaming about fucking his best friend. It had started innocently enough, with just some fleeting thoughts of quick handjobs and some blowjobs in the middle of the night while everyone else sleeps. Then his fantasies had progressed to something far less PG-13, and he doesn’t just want to have sex with Abed, he wants to put all of his feelings into it, too. He wants to make sure that Abed knows that he’s loved, that there’s at least one person in the universe that loves him more than anyone else, that doesn’t even have to think before they admit it._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________He interlocks his fingers with Abed’s and squeezes once, more to reassure himself rather than Abed, and takes a deep breath before he begins. He looks at the title screen playing on their tv, and the familiarity gives him the comfort he needs to proceed._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________He cups Abed’s face in his other hand, holds it there for a moment before he leans forward and presses their lips together. Abed tastes like strawberries, too, and it makes Troy smile against his lips._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Within a few moments, Abed’s smiling as well._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________When Troy leans in to kiss him again, he returns it and allows Troy to climb into the chair beside him. They place the popcorn bowl to the side as they cuddle down together, Abed leaning against Troy and letting his face press against Troy’s neck._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________They don’t say anything, now. They don’t have to. Their friendship has been altered in a way that words can’t describe, and they aren’t needed now anyway._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________As much as Troy tries to keep his attention on the movie playing on the tv screen, there’s nothing more enthralling than Abed laying beside him. He’s unable to keep himself from leaning forward and pressing quick kisses to his lips, from wrapping his arm around him and squeezing his hip, pulling him closer._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________It’s ok, he thinks. He’s seen the _Kickpuncher _films a million times over.___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________And after knowing what it’s like to be without him, he never wants to lose sight of Abed again._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


End file.
